Seahawks host Saints on Monday night in a game rife with playoff implications

SEATTLE — Monday night’s contest between the Seattle Seahawks and the New Orleans Saints is of the big picture variety.

Seattle (10-1) enters as the top seed in the NFC and is playing at home where it hasn’t lost since December 24, 2011.

New Orleans (9-2) is currently the second seed and a victory would result in the Saints controlling their own destiny for home-field advantage.

Home field would be a huge coup for New Orleans, which has never won a playoff game on the road.

Seattle understands the home-field importance, too. While the Seahawks showed last year they can win on the road in the postseason, Seattle’s only Super Bowl trip came after having home-field advantage in the playoffs in the 2005 season.